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UAE faces a tough draw in Olympic qualifiers

 

The draw of the third round of Asian qualifiers for London 2012 Olympic Games was held today at the headquarters of the AFC in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The UAE Olympic team was drawn in Group B alongside Uzbekistan, Australia and Iraq. Group A includes South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Sultanate of Oman while Group C consists of Japan, Bahrain, Malaysia and Syria.

The 12 teams taking part in the third round will compete on a two-round basis, and the team who finishes on top of their group will proceed directly to the London 2012 Olympics. The three teams that finish second in their respective groups will compete in the Asian play-off to determine which team will face their African counterparts. The winner of this match will also qualify for the 2012 Olympics.

The UAE National Olympic team will start their campaign in the third stage with an away encounter against Australia on September 21 before they host Uzbekistan in the second round on November 23 and Iraq in the third round on November 27. They will take on Iraq in the fourth round on February 5, 2012 and then return to the UAE to host Australia in the fifth round on February 22, 2012 before concluding their matches when they face Uzbekistan in an away match on March 14.

The UAE Olympic secured themselves a berth in the third round after beating North Korea (1-0) in their first leg game and (1-1) in the second  to qualify with a 2-1 aggregate. They also defeated Sri Lanka earlier (7-1) and (3-0) in their home and away matches respectively.

Mahdi Ali coach of the UAE Olympic Football Team congratulated all the qualified teams for the third round, especially the GCC squads wishing them all the success. He said that all of the teams that have qualified to the third round are strong contenders but he believes the UAE's group is the strongest as it includes Australia, Iraq and Uzbekistan.